Discussion:
What is a premium product

In the materials handling industry there are a number of companies that will have you believe that their product is a premium product. so what is a premium product. To me a premium product is a Rolls Royce car, a cartier watch , Emirates or ETIHAD business class flight or even Four seasons hotels stay. Its a product you would be wiling to pay a premium for because it will offer you something extra or special.

Now there are products in this industry were people would gladly pay that extra or premium for but there are also product that are just basic or not even above average that people would like to call premium.

So with out naming companies or products because this would just open people up to companies they work for promoting them selfs as premium products when they might be just average or even below average.

what would you say is worth the name premium

remember it takes six months to hand craft a Rolls Royce car and just 13 hours to build a standard car
  • Posted 6 Aug 2016 05:35
  • Modified 6 Aug 2016 05:45 by poster
  • Discussion started by exalt
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Showing items 1 - 15 of 39 results.
exalt, I agree with your first sentence (in reference to the major rough terrain brands).
For sure resale value is dependent on the condition of the machine, but as the machine ages parts availability and service support become increasingly large factors.
  • Posted 29 Nov 2016 01:14
  • Reply by Liftking
  • Ontario, Canada
Liftking would you agree that there might not be a premium product but there is a premium service or after sales support. On resale value it would depend on the condition of the original machine.
  • Posted 27 Nov 2016 01:47
  • Reply by exalt
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
In regards to the rough terrain industry, there is not much separating the different brands. A quick look at the specification sheets show identical or comparable components. A "premium" price would be more related to perceived quality, warranty terms, after-sales support, and resale value.
  • Posted 25 Nov 2016 01:46
  • Reply by Liftking
  • Ontario, Canada
Just another point before people say I'm nocking Linde. Kalmar used to have the volvo engine as standard now it's Cummins and Volvo a option.one reason for this might be to lower costs of the truck ,as well as Polish production
  • Posted 1 Nov 2016 19:51
  • Reply by exalt
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Just a quick point Linde and Hyster might be called a premium product in the USA but over 10 ton Hyundai and Doosan are killing them in sales now Hydundai and Doosan might not be called a Premium truck because they have the basic layout a customer is willing to pay for.


Now what a bout rental Linde do well with rental in Europe because of the spec of their trucks , butt he customer is not buying this truck he is only renting it with service price built in
And this could be lower than a customer paying for service separately as profit are made on both truck and service
  • Posted 1 Nov 2016 19:40
  • Modified 1 Nov 2016 19:54 by poster
  • Reply by exalt
  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates
ok
well if you are just talking about which brand is better overall then sure, what you guys are saying is true, service does come into play and it doesnt matter what brand it is, bad service will end up having a bad running machine usually.

good service usually helps prevent that but not always, some brands are just made badly and built with sub par parts (cheap), even the best service in the world will not make a particular brand any better than another in a case like that. A good tech can keep a truck running but if it winds up costing a customer alot then it kind of negates the good service because the customer is still going to look at the tech like why is my truck breaking all the time and why can you not make it run better without breaking down.

I will say this...
if you compare a standard built truck against a premium built truck in alot of cases i have found that the standard built truck with just basic controls on it usually does not have as many problems as a premium built truck, less bells and whistles so less to go wrong, less to deal with. ;o)

i was just keeping on topic about the 'standard v/s premium' part of it and was totally ignoring the other parts because that looked like that was what he was hitting on the most on comparing one against the other.
my bad :o)
  • Posted 29 Oct 2016 09:19
  • Modified 29 Oct 2016 09:28 by poster
  • Reply by swoop223
  • North Carolina, United States
You've been swooped!
swoop223@gmail.com
You can have the most top of the line product with dealer support that su-ks , your screwe-.
  • Posted 29 Oct 2016 05:37
  • Reply by triumphrider
  • Texas, United States
You gotta look at the big picture dealer/OE parts & service is just one area of any product? My suggestion still stands as a viable part of this discussion.
  • Posted 29 Oct 2016 01:56
  • Reply by cownd
  • Arizona, United States
orchidlane29@gmail.com
well the point crownd is getting into is product support which is a whole different area of discussion that applies to every product sold on the market.
If that is worth discussing then maybe a new forum thread should be opened for that so it won't get this one off topic?
just a suggestion ;o)
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 21:54
  • Reply by swoop223
  • North Carolina, United States
You've been swooped!
swoop223@gmail.com
I totally agree with crownd
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 21:41
  • Reply by triumphrider
  • Texas, United States
i think there are a few of you that do not understand what the terms mean in terms of dealing with what manufacturers develop and sell for each model lift they make.
It was explained in my first post and that has not changed for years.
Manufacturers like hyster , yale, cat, any of them all design a model lift and generally they offer 2 options on each model to make the lift more palletable for customers buying them depending on the budget they have for purchasing a new lift.

- a standard model with basic systems
- a premium model with other options they can offer for improved performance or operator comfort and ergonomic comfort.

example: an electric lift can come with standard drive system and controls and contactor controlled hydraulics and basic dash panel with no options for operator access to the system, a standard seat with standard seatbelt. OR...
it can come with standard or high performance drive system and controls WITH hydraulic controller, all sensors for motors, a cushion suspension seat with adjustments and seatbelt with operator presence control incorporated into the circuits, ie: wired into the system, a premium dash panel that does allow for operator or tech access through the dash and will have customization settings that can be set by the operator or fine tuned by the tech servicing it. The drive motors will be either a standard 9" motor or an 11" motor for high performance (yale offers this option in their sit down electric trucks). Cat and hyster and other brand lifts have similar options.
ALL manufacturers are very competitive so you will see very similar options on each brand lift made no matter who manufactures it.

These are just examples of different options trucks are built with and will vary depending what the customer orders on the machine when it is sold.

these would be the differences you would see between a standard truck and a premium truck.
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 08:52
  • Reply by swoop223
  • North Carolina, United States
You've been swooped!
swoop223@gmail.com
here are all levels of quality and pricing but as a customer I look at the local dealer support first, if you don't have that I stay away. So premium starts there for me.
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 01:33
  • Reply by cownd
  • Arizona, United States
orchidlane29@gmail.com
Premium is in the eye of the beholder or buyer. By saying that Rolls Royce is a premium car because it is hand made and all that but remember, they are in a niche market and just like the Jaguar and Triumphs before them, they are born leaking. Saying all that for us in North America, the sister car the Bentley is more widely accepted. I certainly don't know why but they are. In Lift Trucks I think Premium is an acquired product. I am a Linde guy so most of their Hydrostatic products do have several premium features as do their 80 volt trucks. However if not sold but only quoted you won't get the benefits of Premium over Standard.
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 01:22
  • Reply by just_a_guy
  • South Carolina, United States
There is a lot more to making a decision on which brand to go with other than throwing out two brand names.
All comes down to what each dealership in your area is offering.
  • Posted 28 Oct 2016 00:17
  • Reply by Partsguy5
  • California, United States
Not sure you are comparing apple to apple. The Linde is 80 volt with Crown being 36 or 48. Big differences in run time and efficiency.
  • Posted 27 Oct 2016 23:44
  • Reply by DeadandBloated
  • Georgia, United States

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